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Karl Schembri
Employees working for the Transport Authority have been asked to return the personalised registration plates - priced at Lm500 - that were handed to them on loan for free last August, or pay half the price to keep them, MaltaToday has learned.
The decision marks the end of the so-called “marketing exercise” that was supposed to make the new expensive plates “visible” on the roads after only 28 car owners had opted to adorn their bumpers with the tailor-made registration plates.
It is unclear how many personalised car plates have been sold since last August although the promotion did not go down very well with people visiting the transport authority offices who saw a bunch of old staff cars, many worth less than the plates they were carrying.
The authority has now decided to recall the plates – more than 20 – that were given on loan to its staff. Employees can opt to keep the plates for Lm250 but some of them who spoke to MaltaToday admitted they were not interested in paying such a sum for their unexceptional cars.
A Transport Authority spokesperson said these were “internal matters” and would not discuss them with the press.
“There’s no harm in giving employees those number plates,” she said last year when the authority started its exercise. “They cannot transfer them to anyone else and we gave them specific conditions, unlike buyers who can resell their plates at any price they want at any time,” the spokesman said.
Since November 2003, car owners wishing to show off personalised car plates have to start bidding at Lm500 in an online auction.
Personalised plates owners have to pay Lm200 in transfer fees to the transport authority when they resell their plates.
karl@newsworksltd.com
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